4-22-2015

Good Morning All!!

John 21:4; “Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.”

    Are you expecting Jesus?  The disciples in our verse weren’t expecting him.  Our story begins with seven of the disciples (probably the fishermen of the group) were at the Sea of Galilee and Peter announces to the rest that he is going fishing.  The rest agree to go with him.  We aren’t told why Peter made this statement.  Perhaps he thought it was time to get back to work; it was time to earn a living again.  Perhaps he wanted to use the time of fishing to think and try and figure out all that has happened in the last few days.  Perhaps he was nervous and just needed something to do to keep his mind occupied.  These or other reasons might be why Peter decided to go fishing; we are never told.

    Yet as they had been out all night and were unsuccessful; they were coming back to shore.  A guy on the beach asked them if they caught anything and they answered “no.”  This guy on the beach told them to drop their nets on the right side and they would catch some fish.   Soon they had so many they could barely pull in the net.  One of the other disciples recognized Jesus but it was Peter who jumped in the water and made his way to shore.  The disciples recognized that it was Jesus who spoke to them and was now standing in their presence making breakfast for them.

    The disciples were not expecting Jesus to be standing on the shore as they came in from their evening of work but he was there.  Do you expect to meet Jesus when you are working?  Do you even think about him at work?  Or are you a “suit coat Christian”?  A few years ago, when men always wore suits to church; most would put the suit coat on as they left for church and took it off as soon as they were home and didn’t put it back on until the next Sunday.  Some of us do that with our faith.  We put it on as we go to church but we take it off and leave it in the closet the rest of the week.  Our faith doesn’t seem to have much impact on our “real” life and that is unfortunate.  For there are many times when expressing our faith could impact someone we are working with, someone who is hurting or lost and in need of God’s mercy in their life.

    God wants us to live our faith every day.  First, so that we may always know and remember the comfort and the security of his love and grace that he has for us.  This is to give us the certainty of our salvation through Jesus.  Secondly, it is to keep us aware of those around us who are in need.  They may need an ear to listen or a shoulder to lean on or they may need a word of encouragement; whatever the need, when we keep our faith on at all times we can be ready.  We can be ready to meet Jesus standing on our shore as we finish our daily work.

Gracious Lord, give me the wisdom to always wear my faith.  Keep me close to you so that I will always know your grace.  Give me the courage to speak your truth to those around me.  Lead me to be merciful to the ones who are in pain or are suffering that I may share your grace with them this day.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret